Volunteers at Camp Pollock, the former Boy Scout camp along the American River. // Photo by Matt Gaylord

Camp Pollock, formally the Boy Scout Camp, soon to be under SVC’s management is a new 11 acre acquisition by the State Lands Commission along the  American River and can be found just north of downtown Sacramento, under Hwy 160.

As a volunteer, you will lend a hand to Camp Pollock’s projects.  The tasks include:  upgrade and expand camping areas, assemble a court yard with an interpretive native plant garden, build benches, construct picnic tables and create a trail in front of Lodge for public access.

The SVC has goals to improve the entry and parking area, as well as hire a contractor to repair the 1924 lodge, to this beautiful property.  Service days are held every Saturday from 9am-1pm, until further notice.  Help the SVC, won’t you?

The SVC is looking for the following volunteers:

Entry Level Volunteer: General improvements to the property are the first goals.  See list  above.  SVC needs your help!

Specialty Volunteer Docents: If construction, painting or plumbing repairs are your skillset specialty, the SVC would love your participation!

Public Volunteer Docent: Spend the day outdoors greeting visitors to historic Camp Pollock. Once constructed, docents will direct guests to natural riparian garden and walking paths along the 11 acres of the property.  Become a lasting memory to those that spend part of their day exploring the American River Parkway in Sacramento.

Contact Matt Gaylord with your interest of volunteering at Camp Pollock. 530-321-2063 or email matthew.gaylord.951@gmail.com

If you go:

Where: Camp Pollock along the American River
Who: Ages 10 and older
Cost: FREE
Register online: www.sacramentovalleyconservancy.org/

In honor of twenty years of providing musical education to youth in the region, the Sacramento Children’s Chorus will hold its 20th Anniversary Concert, For the Joy of Singing, on Sunday April 21, 2013 at 4:00 pm in the historic Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento.  All five choirs that make up the SCC will perform delightful pieces from musical greats such as Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Louis Armstrong, and Mozart, just to name a few.   There will be a special film tribute, and songs will be sung from movies in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Crest Theatre building.

In addition, this special concert will showcase an alumni ensemble.  Former SCC singers from across the nation will gather to perform at the Crest, celebrate the Sacramento Children’s Chorus, and pay tribute to the positive long-term impact that singing has made on their lives.

Artistic Director and SCC founder Lynn Stevens says, “We strive to develop skilled, passionate and confident students through exceptional music education and performance experiences.”   The choirs sing in many languages and honor diverse cultures and religions.

The past two decades have been marked with numerous milestones.  More than 2,000 children from all over the Sacramento area have:  collaborated with well-known adult choirs like the Sacramento Choral Society; performed in England, France, the Czech Republic, Scandinavia, New York (Carnegie Hall), and Hawaii; appeared at gubernatorial inaugurations and the opening of legislative sessions; and participated in Mayor Kevin Johnson’s “For Arts Sake” initiative (part of the Kennedy Center’s “Any Given Child” program) at Sacramento City public school assemblies.  In addition, the SCC has hosted choirs from as far away as Korea.

This summer, over 30 singers will tour China — representing Sacramento and the United States as music ambassadors and performing a multicultural repertoire in some of China’s best recital halls in cities such as Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai.

In times like these, with arts education virtually disappearing from our schools, the continued existence of an organization like SCC is more important than ever.  SCC provides children with an opportunity to fall in love with music and develop strong vocal abilities.  Not only that, SCC provides audiences with an opportunity to be inspired by beautiful music.  Learning and sharing music enriches our community beyond measure.

20TH ANNIVERSARY HIGHLIGHTS: For the Joy of Singing – 20th Anniversary Concert will be held on April 214 p.m. at the Crest Theatre, Sacramento. Tickets are $50 for VIP seating and reception after concert, $40 reserved, $25 general, $15 students. The Tour of China will be held June 18-30. Pre-tour concert TBA.

For more information and tickets, visit  www.sacramentochildrenschorus.org or call (916) 646-1141.

A free Christmas “Sing-Along Messiah” concert will take place Sunday, Dec. 9, starting at 4 p.m. at Bethany Presbyterian Church, 5625-24th Street, Sacramento (off Fruitridge Road between I-5 and Highway 99, just 10 minutes south of downtown Sacramento). Free parking is available.  Donations of canned or packaged goods for the local food closet will be accepted at the door. Map and driving directions: www.bethpres.com.
There is no charge to participate as a singer or audience member, and free refreshments will be served following the concert. A goodwill offering midway through the concert. Chief beneficiary of the offering is the South Sacramento Interfaith Partnership Food Closet, which is struggling to provide emergency supplies of groceries to thousands of in-need area residents this holiday season. In the month of October 2012 alone, food was provided to more than 7,000 individuals.
Everyone is invited to join in the volunteer choir, which will be led by choral conductors from area colleges and churches.  Last year’s combined choir and audience totaled more than 200 people.  Participants are encouraged to bring their own musical scores; a limited quantity of Messiah scores will be available for purchase (just $10) at the door.
“To make this truly a participatory event, we are repeating our custom of not using professional soloists,” says Dr. May Tuan Tucker, Bethany Presbyterian Church Music Director. “Solos will be performed in group fashion at the front by anyone and everyone who desires to sing them.” This special feature is not offered at most Sing-Along Messiah events.
Singers of all ages and abilities are welcome to attend an informal public rehearsal on Sunday, Dec. 2, at 4 p.m. at Bethany Church. For more details, contact event coordinator Dr. May Tucker at 428-5281 or e-mail maytucker@mac.com.
The Messiah, composed by George Frideric Handel in 1741, is based on bible passages that tell the story of Christ. This musical celebration has since become a Christmas tradition in many parts of the world. The December 9 concert will feature primarily the Christmas portions of the Messiah, concluding with the triumphant “Hallelujah Chorus.”
A downloadable Sing-Along Messiah flyer is available at www.bethpres.com.
The Sing-Along Messiah is presented by Bethany Presbyterian Church in partnership with local congregations and schools.

For more information on the Sacramento Public Library Adult Literacy Services, visit www.saclibrary.org / Photo by Ian Wilson

Once a week, Sacramento resident Shelley Petazini spends more than two hours at the Arden-Dimick Library. She’s not there to check out the latest bestseller – she’s there to help a 54-year-old man learn how to read.
For the past year, Petazini has been a volunteer tutor through the Sacramento Public Library Adult Literacy Service.
Petazini said her student voluntarily signed up for the program after he quit his job as a cross-country truck driver – a job he held for 29 years – as the industry got more computerized and he wasn’t able to keep up.
“I’ve been amazed at how he’s been able to cope with his not being able to read,” Petazini said. “He’s very knowledgeable about politics, very knowledgeable about sports.He’s very articulate, but he can’t read and he can’t write. It’s just amazing what he’s been able to do and still keep that a secret for so long.”
Sadly, Petazini’s student is not alone.
According to Stephanie Allen, literacy and homework center supervisor for the Sacramento Public Library, about 13 percent of the adult population in Sacramento County – roughly 140,000 people – is at a below-basic or basic reading level.
And when you add in those that are at an intermediate level – that is, they can read but improvements are needed for higher-level critical thinking – that number jumps to 20 to 25 percent of the adult population, or close to 250,000 adults.
“(Adult literacy is) a big problem in Sacramento County,” Allen said. “It’s a big problem in California. It’s a big problem nationwide.”
To help combat this problem, the Sacramento Public Library has offered an Adult Literacy Service since 1984 that Allen says uses trained volunteer tutors to assist adult learners in either learning to read or with improving their reading level, Allen said.
She said the program serves about 250 adult learners each year through about 150 volunteer tutors.
Although the program is housed at the Central Library in downtown Sacramento, tutoring is available at all of the library’s branches throughout the city.
The program and its materials are free for learners and tutors, and according to Allen, it is funded mainly by the Sacramento Public Library, with a smaller portion coming from the California State Library.
Adults wishing to take part in the program are given an intake assessment and interview to determine their reading and writing level. From there, Allen said she works to connect the learner with a tutor that can meet at the time and location of their needs.
Once a learner and tutor are connected, Allen said a tutor and learner will meet an average of one to two times per week for one and-a-half to two-hour sessions, depending on individual availability.
“If they are able to, we like to see them meet twice a week just because the progress is quicker that way,” Allen said. “But if all they are able to do is once a week, then once a week is better than zero times a week.”
Although the program uses basic curriculum to help teach reading and writing, Allen said it is very much tailored to what exactly the student is looking to achieve.
“Many of our learners work on lots of similar types of goals, like being able to read a bedtime story to their child or being able to learn to do email,” she said. “We really do make an effort to tailor our tutoring sessions toward exactly what they are looking for.”
Speaking of goals, Petazini’s student is steadily working toward a goal of getting his GED, but the student/tutor pair are taking their time and working within both of their schedules.
“I would say we’ve got probably a few years to go yet, but he wants to keep working with me and I want to keep working with him,” she said. “So we’re not stressing out about how much we should do and far we should get at any given point.”
In fact, Petazini says she has enjoyed her time as a tutor so much she is considering taking on a second student.
“To me, it’s so liberating when someone learns to read, they have so much power,” she said. “And right now if you can’t read, you really don’t have a lot of power at all because you’re dependant on so many people. When you can start learning to read and enjoy reading, it really empowers you. And that’s really what I like about it a lot.”

For more information on the Sacramento Public Library Adult Literacy Services, visit www.saclibrary.org.

Carmichael’s rejected governor’s mansion at 2300 California Ave. is now a private residence with no connection to state government. / Photo by Lance Armstrong

When Californians refer to the “governor’s mansion,” they are generally speaking about the Second Empire Italianate-style Victorian mansion on 16th Street, along the old Highway 40. But at times, some of these references are directed toward the historic Stanford Mansion at 800 N Street or the mansion built for this state’s governors in Carmichael.

Many people in the Sacramento area recall this latter, controversial estate overlooking the American River.

It was that very mansion at 2300 California Ave. that was to solve this state’s void of a permanent structure for its chief executive.

But this mansion was already a major issue of debate while it was still under construction in 1974, as Gov. Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown, Jr., during his second term in office, refused to reside in the structure.

Despite the fact that nearly every other state in the Union has a designated, permanent governor’s residence, it has been 45 years since such a place has existed in California.
The French Second Empire/Renaissance Revival-style Stanford Mansion was once home to the state’s eighth governor, Leland Stanford, and the following two governors, Frederick F. Low and Henry H. Haight.

The mansion on the 16th Street
And the aforementioned 16th Street mansion, which was built in 1877 for Albert Gallatin of the hardware business, Huntington, Hopkins & Co., was the home of every California state governor from 1903 to 1967.

Following the 16th Street mansion’s nine decades as a residence, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan and his family became the final residents of the mansion. The Reagans moved from the mansion into a leased home in the upscale East Sacramento neighborhood, known as the Fabulous Forties.

This move occurred only four months after the Reagans moved into the 16th Street mansion.

California First Lady Nancy Reagan was dissatisfied with the structure’s living conditions and declared it a “firetrap” with a neighborhood that was unsafe for small children.

The 16th Street mansion and its property, which is known today as the Governor’s Mansion State Historic Park, is now recognized as one of Sacramento’s most important historic sites and is a popular destination for visitors and locals seeking to learn some history through daily, guided tours.

Carmichael Mansion construction begins
Construction on the 12,000-square-foot, concrete block Carmichael mansion began during the final stretch of Gov. Reagan’s second and last term in office. Contracts for the job were let in October 1974 and construction began shortly thereafter.

The mansion, which was completed in 1975, was built within 11.3 acres on the bluffs that were donated by friends of Gov. Reagan.

Brown criticizes construction
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1974, Brown, a then-36-year-old bachelor, was elected to replace Reagan as governor.

Brown had made it an issue in his campaign to refer to the construction of the $1.3 million, 17-room governor’s residence, which Gov. Reagan was determined to have built, as an inappropriate use of funds during a recession, in which many California residents could not afford adequate housing.

Gov. Reagan, however, stressed that the construction of the Carmichael mansion was appropriate in that it would fill the void of a permanent governor’s residence, and serve in this capacity for at least a century.

“It is not a residence for one particular governor,” Gov. Reagan told reporters in 1974. “It is a residence for governors on down through the years, a hundred years or more.”

Continuing, Reagan said, “I recognize there are some forces in Sacramento that believe the residence should not be a residence, so much as a tourist attraction downtown. I think that’s unfair to anybody who occupies this job.”

A Venus-like statue stands amidst greenery just inside the entrance to the old governor’s mansion grounds. / Photo by Lance Armstrong

Brown dubbs it “Taj Mahal”
Although Brown did not take office until Jan. 6, 1975, soon after being elected governor, he continued to publicly voice his opinion and intentions regarding the construction of the governor’s mansion, which was patterned after a Spanish villa.

In speaking to local reporters only two days after he was elected as the state’s next chief executive, Brown said, “I have not looked at (the under construction Carmichael mansion) yet. I want to take a look at the contract and see if it is legally and economically feasible to terminate it. I certainly want to, if I can.”

Brown was unable to halt the construction of the mansion, which he famously dubbed a “Taj Mahal.” However, he held true to his words that he would not live in the structure, as he instead opted to make a sparsely-furnished, two-bedroom apartment at the Dean Apartments at 1400 N St. his gubernatorial home.

Others were also critical of the Carmichael mansion, which some people referred to as having the appearance of a Safeway supermarket.

The Sacramento-born writer Joan Didion called the mansion “an enlarged version of a very common kind of California tract house.”

The mansion’s loyal caretakers
A 1979 United Press International article, however, described two couples who were very fond of the mansion.

According to the article, Lonnie and Mildred Eastmade and Jim and Ruth Bryner were at the time dividing the monthly cost of $1,600 per month to live in and take care of the estate. The couples were responsible for security of the place, various upkeep and escorting reporters and state visitors around the mansion.

The article noted that the Eastmades and Bryners did not “take kindly to putdowns of the river bluff villa – even from Gov. Brown.”

Deukmejian takes office
Unlike Brown, Gov. George Deukmejian, who served as Brown’s successor from 1983 to 1991, said on multiple occasions that he wanted to reside with his family in the Carmichael mansion.

However, Senate Democrats insisted on the sale of the mansion, and on July 15, 1983, Deukmejian changed his stance on the matter and advised lawmakers that there was no need to block the sale of the Carmichael estate.

The Deukmejian administration had rejected a $1.5 million bid to purchase the mansion in June 1983.

In its Sept. 14, 1984 edition, The Sacramento Union announced that Southern California developer Matt Franich had submitted the winning bid of $1.53 million for the Carmichael mansion.

According to the article, Franich offered Deukmejian the opportunity to reside at the mansion, but Deukmejian found the $18,000 per month minimum rent payment to be too costly.

Current owners
Today, the old Carmichael mansion that was built as a governor’s residence is the privately-owned home of a local physician and his wife.

Altogether the original, 11.3-acre property includes eight lots, four of which have houses. The lots for the non-governor’s mansion homes were sold in 2003 and 2004.

The entire property is gated in from the street. And on a brick pillar supporting the entrance gate is a plaque bearing the Spanish name, La Casa de los Gobernadores – “The House of the Governors.”

Kim Pacini-Hauch, Lyon Real Estate agent and a resident of the gated community, said that presently there is a rare opportunity for one to purchase a home within the community.

“The (available) house was built in 2007 and it’s listed for sale for $1,595,000,” said Pacini-Hauch, who grew up in Incline Village on the north shore of Lake Tahoe and has resided in the Sacramento area for nearly 30 years. “It’s about 4,200 square feet on just a little under an acre and it (has) beautiful quality construction. There’s just two (homes) here overlooking the bluff in a gated community and there’s nothing like it.”

And in describing her very unique neighborhood, she added, “It’s just a beautiful (community). It’s peaceful and quiet and it’s just a lovely place to live.”